Laurie Athens
Laurie Elisa Athens is a recurring character used by Lowri in World 8: Brave New World. She is 19, one of triplets, and has the abilities of Light, Shadow And Darkness Manipulation, Linking, Inspiration, Pacifism and Omnilingualism. She is currently engaged to Alex Treharne. Appearance Like her sisters, she's slim and 5'10 with quite prominent and delicate facial bone structure. She is often described as having a sweet smile, and looks charming and innocent. Her hair is long, and a light brown flecked through with gold. Her eyes are sparkling light blue. She looks a lot like her mother. Personality Laurie is sweet and kind, and a little quiet and thoughtful. She is also naturally hopeful and optimistic. She is very trusting, and can be naive. She hates to fight, but will if she has to - however she fights in methods which do not permanently harm. This is reflected in how none of her abilities can inflict permanent damage. Home Laurie, like her sisters, grew up in California. They had been living in San Fransisco when she manifested, and the family home is currently in Los Angeles. This house is large, modern and minimalist. It doesn't have much of a garden, but has an outdoor pool. Since her sisters also manifested, the three have moved to live in New York. The apartment they have bought together is large but sparse, modern and slightly feminine. It contains 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and an open living area. Abilities Her first ability is Light, Shadow And Darkness Manipulation. This includes creation and manipulation of light rays, shadows and complete darkness. She can use it to illuminate or hide as she chooses, and can produce intense and direct light beams which are blinding. She can also manipulate light to create illusions, cause invisibility and alter colours. She has also manifested the ability of Linking. This ability enables her to form one-sided empathic connections, and at the moment she is linked to her triplet sisters Lee and Lola, and to Alex Treharne. The link can extend for any distance, and means that she can communicate telepathically with these. They can also sense her own thoughts and emotions, and would know if she was endangered. She would be weakened if any of her linkees were hurt, and would also die if she lost them all. However, she strengthens when in her linkees' presences. Laurie's third ability is the ability of Inspiration. This enables her to inspire certain effects in others, and also perhaps within herself. She can cause a person to have new ideas, and can increase skill, work rate and creativity. She can induce selflessness, courage and self-sacrifice. She can also cause manifestation or identification of a new ability. Her fourth ability is the ability of Omnilingualism. This ability means she can speak and understand every language, and all forms of communication. They can be verbal or non-verbal. She can also communicate limitedly with animals using this ability, but it is limited to the animal's normal level of consciousness and communication. Her final ability is Pacifism. This is the ability to diffuse all tension. She can use it to get out of arguments and possible fights, and to remove existing problems. However, the greater the tension, the more difficult it is to remove it, and the ability is not limitless. Family & Relationships *Mother - Sue Athens *Father - David Athens *Older triplet sister - Lola Athens *Older triplet sister - Lee Athens *Fiance - Alex Treharne *Future sons - Simon and Luke Treharne *Future daughters - Fiona and Brigitte Treharne History Laurie grew up with her parents and sisters in California, and manifested when she was 12, a week after their grandparents' deaths. She moved shadows and sunbeams, but no one apart from her witnessed it, and for a while she just ignored it and tried to forget about it. She was too frightened to tell anyone. However, this changed after abilities became public knowledge, and only the discovery of her father's new attitude prevented her from coming out openly. She instead approached the New Company for advice. Shortly afterwards, her home was attacked by a gang of thugs who'd realised her secret, and her sister Lola manifested during the attack. Laurie contacted the New Company once more, and the two of them were emancipated and moved to New York. The same happened with Lee after she manifested, shortly after Laurie had manifested Linking and formed a link with her. She manifested Inspiration when she helped her sister identify her final ability. During her training, Laurie began showing a little interest in joining the New Company, and helped somewhat in a few missions. One involved her using her inspiration to remind the agents of their plan after the villain had used strategic deficit to force them to forget it. However, the mission turned awry when the villain captured her, and she had to use her other abilities to fight him off. Alex was in the area, unknown to her, and he saw her using her abilities, thus learning that she is an evolved human. He became a campaigner for evolved human rights. A year later, her sister Lola was killed by a member of a villainous gang, and Lee was trapped in a mirror using lexiconicy when she tried to investigate. Laurie then tried to investigate too, but only succeeded in endangering herself. Alex sensed her fear through their link. He came to her rescue, killing two of the gang members in the process and injecting himself with a vial of the formula to give himself abilities. He also proposed after Laurie found the ring which had fallen from his pocket during the fight. The next day, he saved both of her sisters by threatening Jamie Marks and forcing him to use his reversal to undo their deaths. Strengths & Weaknesses Laurie has great skill in using her first ability, and has fully developed several aspects of it. She can use it offensively as blinding rays, or use it in many ways to hide and disguise herself and others. She loves her abilities. She has some skill in teaching and guiding others, and her kind nature endears her to most people. She's much stronger, in all ways, when with her linkees. Her main weakness is how much she hates to fight and harm others, and how guilty she still feels afterwards even though she knows that she only does this when she is forced to, and even though she doesn't use her ability to cause permanent harm. She can also be too naive and trusting. She could also be potentially vulnerable if any threatened Alex. She can be directly hurt by harming her linkees, and will die if they all die without her having formed new links. Etymology Laurie is an Latin name meaning "laurel", which has Greek roots meaning "crowned victorious". Her middle name, Elisa, is an alternate form of Elizabeth, and is a Hebrew name which means "my God is a vow". Her surname refers to the capital city of Greece, named after the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, civilization and war. Category:Characters Category:Lowri's Characters.